Piercing of body parts and skin portions thereof is frequently performed and occurs either manually or by some kind of instrument. The best known and most used instruments are especially adapted to piercing of ear lobes and can be divided into hand-operated and spring-operated instruments. An example of the former is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,170 and an example of the latter is given in EP 0 559 637. However, the prior art instruments for piercing of ear lobes are, due to their construction, less suited or not at all suited for use on other body parts, in particular for pieces of body jewelry having a bent bar.
In all surgical operations, including piercing and positioning of pieces of jewelry in body parts, it is desirable to use products and methods which enable and facilitate aseptic handling. By asepsis is meant a process and technique which aim at preventing spreading of pathogenic microorganisms. Since piercing of body parts for insertion of body jewelry is often performed by non-medically trained staff, products and methods which allow a simple aseptic process are highly important.
A crucial aspect which differs piercing of ear lobes from piercing of certain other body parts, such as a navel, is the appearance of the bar of the piece of body jewelry which is to be preferred. When piercing an ear lobe, a completely straight bar is generally preferred. This means that the motion required for positioning the piece of ear jewelry is completely linear. The straight bar can be used since an ear lobe constitutes a well-defined flap-like area with a front side and a rear side. The straight bar can also advantageously be used as a piercing means.
When piercing other body parts where the hole is made by pinching an originally substantially plane skin portion, for example adjacent to a navel, a piece of body jewelry with a bent bar is preferred. The purely medical reason for this is that in piercing an originally substantially plane skin portion, a piece of body jewelry with a straight bar would cause more tension in the skin portion since the locking means and the decorative member of such a piece of jewelry abut against the plane skin and act to press out the bar from the plane skin surface. On a short view the risk of irritation and infection increases, while on a slightly longer view the risk increases that such a straight piece of jewelry is rejected by and migrates out of the body. Purely cosmetically, it is an advantage that in certain body parts, for instance a navel, a piece of body jewelry with a bent bar has a more attractive appearance.
The design of the bar of the piece of body jewelry affects the requirements placed on the piercing process since a piece of body jewelry with a straight bar can be inserted by completely linear motions, whereas a piece of body jewelry with a bent bar must be inserted by a non-linear motion. This motion can be resembled to a digging motion. The instruments that are known for piercing and positioning of jewelry, however, allow merely piercing and positioning of pieces of body jewelry with straight bars.
Piercing before and positioning of pieces of body jewelry with bent bars therefore take place to a great extent using purely manual aids by the skin in the area in which piercing is to take place, for example a navel, being disinfected and squeezed by a squeezing means in the form of a pair of tongs with loops in such a manner that the desired entry and exit holes are arranged opposite each other. Then piercing takes place by the operator holding a piercing means in the form of a cannula directly by his fingers and manually pressing the same through the skin portion through a marked desired entry hole and a marked desired exit hole. The cannula, which is straight, is pressed by a linear motion through the squeezed skin portion to form a straight passage therethrough. After that the bent bar is moved, by being gripped with the fingers, through the straight passage, which takes place by the operator making a digging motion with the bar. The digging motion is performed in order to reduce trauma to a minimum. By trauma is meant an action exerted on the skin portion and the associated tissue which can cause a remaining or temporary effect. In particular, a mechanical action in the form of pull, pressure or friction is intended. The digging motion means, in practice, that the operator presses the bent bar through the straight passage to form a passage having a curvature which as much as possible corresponds to the curvature of the bar, and a cross-section perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the passage, which as much as possible corresponds to the corresponding cross-section of the bar. This takes place with minimum effect on the surrounding tissue, that is to cause as little trauma as possible. By definition, trauma cannot be avoided but only reduced.
It also happens that the cannula is mounted directly on the bar, whereby the bar is put in place in direct connection with the pressing of the cannula through the skin portion. To fix the piece of body jewelry in the skin, a locking means is mounted on the free end of the bar, which usually takes place manually.
The above described method requires the operator to have great experience and dexterity, and the risk of poor quality piercing is obvious.
Manual piercing is a bloody method, that is the handling is such that it is basically not possible to avoid blood being seen and exposed, which thus involves a serious risk of infection for the operator and discomfort to the person who is being pierced. The manual method also means that the operator is to touch with his fingers all components included in the piece of body jewelry, including the piercing means, and also comes into contact with the skin portion involved, which separately and together with the exposure of blood creates a serious risk of infection for both the patient and the operator. These risks of infection, of course, concern microorganisms which may cause seriously infected wounds, but the risks of infection also concern deadly blood virus, such as HIV and hepatitis.
There is also a need for a technique for piercing and positioning pieces of body jewelry with a bent bar, which proposes simple handling, reduces trauma and allows an aseptic process with respect to both the person being pierced and the operator.